Interesting. Didn’t really think of raising pre. And in hindsight I do think a flop check might have been better. I could get some info and maybe even c/r if I saw some weakness? I did have an idea of what I wanted opponents to fold: unpaired hands and hands without a 7. In the moment I was thinking I would have heard from TT or even 99 or better preflop most likely. And only 2 7’s out there. The UTG was just the straddler and the UTG raise from $5 to $10 was just weird and doesn’t really seem strong. But UTG+1 was the only guy I thought might have an overpair to mine really. Maybe my thinking is flawed.

I was def. surprised when UTG called. He was pretty active “table captain guy” and had a big stack, and I was thinking what are the odds he actually lucked into a 7 or a big pair in his straddle, never great. 

The rest of the hand is not so important. I’m more confused about my play up to turn.

As played, the 9 turn came. I had about a pot size bet left and figured that the odds of him floating me were decent. I jammed $165 into $170. I know this is kind of a live read, but it is a real question: what would he call my flop bet with?? I really couldn’t get my head on his range. No draws on board. Did he just get lucky in the straddle with a 7 or big pair? Seemed more likely to me he was fighting for his straddle pot.

In any case, he called immediately, and tabled A9o. River was a blank and I was stacked. Runout not so important to me as perhaps the mistakes I might have made earlier in the hand. Opinions appreciated.

Thx –